Kim Kardashian West Hates Pregnancy, Becomes Champion For Women With Similar Experiences

Kim Kardashian West is nothing if not honest. The reality star, beauty guru, and entrepreneur has made her living, fame, and empire on sharing a candid view of her life and sharing without filters (except on Instagram, of course!) and in the past, that honesty has been met with both acceptance and vitriol.

These latest comments about her pregnancy are no different, except perhaps this time around, her honesty lends a voice to other women who have difficulty or shame admitting one thing: if they really like being pregnant or not.

It’s no secret that Kim was heavily body shamed when she was pregnant the last time. The normally svelte and sexy star looked very different, spawning mean tabloid stories and a lot of name calling. For Kim, who loves to feel sexy and is criticized enough, it must have been a difficult experience, not to mention the difficulty of her actual pregnancy, fraught as it was with pain and complications.

Well now, Kim is pregnant with her second child, but she’s got a whole new platform she didn’t have before: that infamous app. On it, she decided to write how she “really feels” about being pregnant, and spoiler alert: she doesn’t like it at all.

She wrote:

“Pregnancy is the worst experience of my life! LOL! I don’t enjoy one moment of it, and I don’t understand people who enjoy it. My mom and Kourtney clearly did! More power to them but I just don’t relate!”

Sister Kourtney truly did love being pregnant. She did a famous nude photo shoot while pregnant and has said she “feels her best” when she’s carrying a little one. But is it okay to feel differently? Do all women have to feel great when they’re pregnant? Why is there shame in being uncomfortable or in pain?

Kim cited the many reasons why she hates being pregnant:

“Maybe it’s the swelling, the backaches or just the complete mindf*ck of how your body expands and nothing fits. I just always feel like I’m not in my own skin. It’s hard to explain. I don’t feel sexy, either — I feel insecure and most of the time I just feel gross.”

When I read those words, I thought of that funny scene in What To Expect When You’re Expecting, in which Elizabeth Banks’s character snaps onstage when she has to extol the benefits of being pregnant, and instead admits it’s the worst thing she’s ever gone through.

The same effect is occurring with Kim’s honesty, and it’s becoming a trend for her. We’ve talked previously about how Kim’s attitude about her body and how she relates to it resonates with a lot of women; this situation is no different.

There’s a stigma associated with disliking pregnancy, as if disliking pregnancy translates into disliking your child. By speaking out and sharing her feelings, opinions, and experiences, Kim is making it that much easier for normal women to share what may be similar feelings.

This isn’t the first time that the honesty of celebrities has shed light on social problems or personal issues such as these, and it won’t be the last. Kim is in a unique position with her app and her platform, in which she’s able to initiate a narrative and influence how issues are discussed, and what we’re discussing.

Of course, Kim is a far cry from the normal woman: she’s heavily reliant on her body and her beauty for her fame, and she’s probably a bit more insecure about her weight because of her exposure. But pregnancy is an experience that has the ability to unite all women, and Kim is doing that with her honesty. And in the end, she knows that her newborn baby makes the whole difficult experience worth it.

Lisa is a freelance writer and bibliophile living on the outskirts of New York City. She likes 2 a.m. with a good book, takes cream in her coffee and heavily filters her photos. Check out her blog The Most Happy, her Instagram, and Twitter.